Last blog entry

Song: "That's Life," Frank Sinatra, The Chairman of the Board ("I said that's life (That's life) And as funny as it may seem, ..., I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king - I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing. Each time I find myself flat on my face I pick myself up and get back in the race.")

Quotes:

"Jenny Curran: were you scared in Vietnam? Forrest Gump: Yes. Well, I-I don't know. Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out ... And then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou. There was always a million sparkles on the water ... Like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the earth began. It's so beautiful. Jenny Curran: I wish I could've been there with you. Forrest Gump: You were." - Forrest Gump, the movie

" 'A city set in a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house' .... For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world." - integrated quotes from Matthew

Introduction:

This is the longest, baddest and hardest part of the Gobi March. The stage covers 2 days and in the moment increased to 80 km. All but the most elite runners will trek instead of try to run. This long stage takes the racers across the breastbone of the Black Gobi desert with its vast plains and stunning wind-shaped rock formations. Only the top 5 or so freaky runners will end up enduring a full day of the desert

Song: "The Show Must Go On,"Queen ("Empty spaces - what are we living for ...My make-up may be flaking but my smile still stays on. Whatever happens, I'll leave it all to chance ...On and on, does anybody know what we are living for? I guess I am learning, I must be warmer now. I'll soon be turning, round the corner now ...The show must go on. The show must go on.")

Quotes:

"King Arthur: [after Arthur's cut off both of the Black Knight's arms] Look, you stupid bastard, you've got no arms left! Black Knight: Yes, I have. King Arthur: Look! Black Knight: It's just a flesh wound." - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

"The news hits you like a freight train. You are depressed for a while because you are grieving for the difference between your hopes and the reality." - David Cameron, Conservative Party Leader, Britain, describing the moment he learned of a family disability.

Today the Gobi changed the game as we entered Stage 4 and left the mountain entrance that forms the Gobi's skin. The land got flat as Indiana plains and it was only a matter of time before the sun cracked its yolk on the summit ridge, pouring furnace heat down in sheets of ever increasing degrees. There were no oasis villages to greet us, just dried vestiges periodically dotting the landscape. At one bleary point I asked out for a sign of hope and incredibly looked down to find a horse shoe made by a Gobi farmer. This has become my lucky charm, although I am sure Ryan is laughing at me as this also had the effect of weighing down my pack more!

We crossed 42 km of vast endless sand and rock of shimmering Gobi terrain, ultimately entering the Black Gobi which few Westerners see. Periodically we would see small sand storms erupt in cyclones of dust up into the air spiralling all around whatever happened to be in its epicenter. These funnels, however, shyly kept their distance.

My worry at this point is my right foot. The unrelenting rain yesterday left me with a massive blood blister that cover the tender pad from side-to-side of the foot as I mentioned yesterday and despite being patched up with second skin and padding every time I stepped down on it a knife cut me. I had to resort to trekking poles to stabilize and circumnavigated the desert with Nico from Hong Kong and Greg from France.

When we finally made camp, which was built by Mao in the 1950s and where he forced his soldiers to become farmers, I went straight for the Med Tent. The docs told me they cannot remove the second skin or it'll interrupt the healing and they cannot add anymore padding or it will affect my stride and create more problems for tomorrow's Long March, so it's bite the lip and step on and on. I started the day with white socks. I just threw away a red one.

Speaking of the Long March, it is nearly here. Two stages back-to-back as one. And we got a surprise today. The length was increased from 70 to 80 km. Can you friggin'believe it? One of the elite runners in my tent is hoping to finish by midnight. We start at 8 am. Yep in 16 hours. I'll race with the guys I hooked up with today and we agreed to alternate leads but realistically this is 20 - 23 hours on our feet and through the searing day and black of night. If can get through this with that danged "flesh wound"we beat the Gobi. I am sure she isn't going down without a fight.

I'll be clenching that horse show ...

The show must go on.

Dave

Song(s):
"November Rain,"Guns & Roses (Cold, that rain is ...nothing more need said)

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,"Elton John ("Back to the howling old owl in the woods. Hunting the horny back toad. Oh I've finally decided my future lies, beyond the yellow brick road.")

Poem:
"Oscillation,"by Effusive

"A man is hanged on the strand of unsettling moment, oscillating in the pendulum clock, within the infinite distance between now and then, between the valley that we find our uniqueness and the mountain that we discover our unity.")

This Gobi March, I've learned, is a boxing match...

Round 1 - A draw. Dave leading first half; Gobi tied it in a hail storm at the end.

Round 2 - Gobi. I tackled then alpine run up to the temple but the mountain pass full of rock shards drew blood.

Round 3 - Dave. 42 km. The Gobi threw everything at us today and I beat her back. Consensus from the elite runners was today was the hardest. We started with a long slough through a rock field. The worst size of rock too - sorry, but the best way I know how to explain it is the path was strewn with rocks the size the Middle East laws require to fulfil a stoning, not too large to break the skull right off the bat, not too small to bounce off. Basically the size of your fist. Sorry Cate, but you know I researched this when in Saudi.

After the stones, which left me with a massive blood blister at day end covering half of my right foot, and requiring medical services in the trauma tent - when I get home I am buying Pedinol, we got a reprieve and the sky turned overcast and wind died down. Eye of the hurricane, turned out.

But in the eye I encountered a most wonderful thing. I ran into an oasis city in the Gobi, a Technicolor patch of beauty and salvation. Really, there is nothing more splendid than an oasis. It is an island of hope floating in a sea of shimmering sand. As we round through the village, tall green thin trees that looked like they were plucked from Tuscany dotted the sides of th homes built out of dirt and some sticky substance, probably Pedinol. Mangers like you see in your head from Christmastime dotted each home and a crystal bubbling stream that descended on this outcrop from the top of the Tian Shan cut through diagonally the village center to give the place life, the city's blood. About three football fields to the west of the village limit, sitting on a tiny hill that looked like Custer's Last Stand if you

Song: Ants Marching, Dave Mathews Band ("And all the little ants are marching. Red and black antennas waving. They all do it the same. They all do it the same way.")

Quote: "Forrest Gump-[running] I had run for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, and 16 hours. [He stops and turns around in the middle of a desert highway.] Young Man Running: Quiet, quiet! He's gonna say something! Forrest Gump: [pause] I

Song: Holy Road, Lizzie West -

It

Songs:

Back Home Again in Indiana, by Straight No Chaser (must listen to this version)

Song:

YMCA, by The Village People